Warm my art
by WhenToothlessWrites
Summary: His eyebrows scrunched up in annoyance and for the first time in hours his eyes left the walls for him to turn around and look her in the eyes. "Will you stop staring at me and enjoy the artwork?" "I am" Or the one in which Astrid can't help but remember how life lead her to that boring art exposition nor take her eyes off him even with so much to look at. ONE-SHOT! Modern AU!


**Hey guysss, so this is just something I really didn't think through. There were the lines and when I found myself all this had been written down. I was just trying to "warm up" before keeping on writing the other requests this morning but all this came out so it's kind of a httyd1to Rtte/Httyd2 Au explanation of Hiccup by Astrid's point of view. Honestly, it wasn't supposed to come this long or boring, but since I wrote it. Well, I'll just leave it here. No harm done right?  
**

 **Should be posting a request later on but it'll be posted as a different story btw.**

 **If you're bored, than go ahead! You might end up even more so but hey, at least ya got something to do XD**

"Thank you" Hiccup said, picking up the tickets they'd have to deliver by the entrance.

He eagerly bolted forward, faster than Astrid ever thought her one-legged boyfriend could.

She sighed, letting herself be dragged by the overly excited boy. Hiccup handed the tickets to the black bearded man by the door, his hands shaking and his foot and prosthetic constantly changing places.

The man gave them an awkward smile before ticking the tickets and giving them back to the Haddock. As she was once again dragged inside the place, the man gave her a funny look, as if he understood what was going on. She raised her eyebrows, replying with a knowing one.

"Woahhhh." Hiccup mumbled, his eyes wandering around the place, trying to absorb every single detail, of every single corner, of every single piece of art.

Astrid held his upper arm, looking around. Wide rooms were linked to each other by large, old doors that had obviously been recovered. The ceiling was high above their heads, original paintings from the time when kings ruled the territory adorning it. The greatness of the building had always impressed Astrid, (not to talk about her architecture loving boyfriend, better not to) but it wasn't like she was new to the place. In such a small town like Berk, they knew every single corner, and most of the attractions that came from the continent usually ended up there, especially expositions.

The place was full of paintings, and it was only the first floor.

"Can you believe all this?! He looked at her for a split second, his eyes shining in utter bewilderment, before he resumed to almost flying to the nearest work on the wall next to them. The look in his eyes told her he'd absorb every single detail there was available.

That was going to be a long, loooong afternoon.

Don't take her wrong. Astrid loved learning, and being able to do and know new things. She enjoyed museums a lot, getting to know more of what they had in that big planet.

The only problem was...

... Art just wasn't her thing.

It was Hiccup's.

But that much was rather obvious.

They checked every single corner, every single painting.

Every single sculpture too.

Or at least Hiccup checked, Astrid let herself be dragged by him.

She had no idea for how long they'd been there, but it felt like days. She once managed to actually "wake" up, and found Hiccup excitedly talking about the painting In front of them. According to him, it had something to do with realism. Next time she knew it, he was saying something about Vincent Van Gogh and his expressionism, since they were apparently standing in front of one of his most famous works.

Not that it looked much in her eyes, if anything she felt like picking up the painting and throwing it against Vincent Van Gogh's head just to be interested in something for a moment. That would be realism alright, throwing it to his head just to at least try to find something interesting to look at.

Because she couldn't express how bored she was.

Art really didn't mean anything to her. She could look at the most incredible masterpiece in the world and still… don't care. It was like those abstract works. People could go on and on and on and aaaaand oooon about the different things they saw in their points of view. Astrid saw a couple splotches or whatever, the name of the artist and the artwork and then the ground because sooner or later she was moving on.

She was more of a… sports girl.

Berk was a small town in a big island far away from the coast, so old that there were records dating back from the time of Vikings. Yes, Vikings. She had no idea that those barbarics even had the brains to paper more than maps and charts and treaties, how about journals and books about their daily life, but Berk was actually privileged. There were many found documents about them and it had been acknowledged that they had been in charge of the village's foundation.

Thanks to whoever had the ingenious idea to note those things out, they had enthusiastically learned that most families had surprisingly kept their names until nowadays, the bloodlines obviously well enough mixed and corrupted but authentic enough too. Astrid was one of many that proudly had one of those names. Hofferson. She was a Hofferson.

And truer or falser the Hofferson's had apparently been one of the most important families in the village. They were warriors.

Astrid of course liked that a lot. She could see herself in Viking times kicking the scum in their asses and winning any contest or fight her ambition might lead her to.

Ah yes. With Vikings as their ancestors, it was easier to explain how such a village could be so narrow minded, and instead of caring about brains the most, brawn was mostly what their brains thought about and why so many people had the looks and constitution of… well, a bulky Viking.

Not everyone though.

She laid her head on Hiccup's shoulder, not being able to restrain a yawn. How could he be so interested in all that? She would rather be somewhere else.

Then why wasn't she?

Well, she loved him.

And this made him happy.

And if this made him happy, for as boring as it was, it made her happy.

Hiccup was one of those cases that seemed lost ones. His entire childhood had been shadowed by that same narrow-mindedness. Not his of course. As far as she could tell, he was so open-minded that he would even taste the twin's salty fish with salt on top during one of their camping nights.

The twins were two iron-headed well… twins that hang out with them. For as much annoying as they might be, always pranking and destroying your stuff, they also had their amazing sides.

But back to the track… Hiccup's father was the village's mayor, and as all stubborn, proud, hot-tempered, 200 and something pounds (she didn't dare ask, but that's what it seemed), red-bearded father he wanted his equally bulky, strong, ideal son to follow his paths. Being a Haddock didn't help him much either. Like her, his surname was one of the older ones and documents even pointed out how he Haddocks had been the village's chiefs. Which was ironic, given Stoick's position nowadays.

The father wanted his son to assume his post after him, something that might happen since she often told her boyfriend how such a good leader he would be and how he could change the town for the better…Might, because he always denied, insecure as he was about himself.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III. Yes, the third, there were three of them. Or at least there had been, besides his surname, Hiccup had the luck to be named after his ancestors, earning an equally old full name and odd first one.

He had always been scrawny, smaller than all the other children in town. She had grown up with him- okay, she had grown around him. While the other boys played fights with each other, with cars and cops and thieves, he sat in a corner and read, and painted, and drew.

So much for Stoick's ideal, man-like son.

She found herself staring up at him like a fool. His bright green irises were the brightest she'd seen- actually, they always seemed to shine with a new light every time he came across something he enjoyed learning.

That curiosity he'd always had had led him in a different path than his father wanted him to and from what the other boys seemed to like. For that… well, school can be a harsh place for the different ones, and in such a small town, it wasn't hard for him to earn all the bullies he could in a radius of at least… the whole town.

Another trait he always had, and didn't seem to loose, was his clumsiness- which only made things worse with his father humiliating him even in front of everyone after one of his screw up accidents. Steffen Haddock wasn't doing it on purpose of course, but Hiccup kept screwing up in his failed attempts to do something right, and it started humiliating Stoick the Vast himself, how they called him.

Since… you know…

He was stoic.

And vast...

Yeah, his life was terrible and Astrid stood in a corner, watching him struggle with the world alone. Not teasing nor mocking like Snotlout ( Steven, Hiccup's cousin, who had been one of those constant-snot-on-my-nose-kids and still was very loud, for example) and the others did, but not doing anything about it either.

He'd always interested her. He was so peculiar after all, and she didn't dislike him. Sure, he was different, but that was probably what attracted her to him. He had brains, and used them for a change.

Astrid too was proud to say she did have brains, like Fishlegs (yeah, just weird names, but that was what Francis got after getting the fish served for lunch all over his legs). He was a nice boy and obviously now a best friend to Hiccup, they had so much in common after all: Big hearted, both nerds, geeks, enthusiasts of history and myths and legends and conspiracy theories.

Even math…

Anyway, she was a top student and when Hiccup started being better than her- when he was able to put a bit all the bullying and failures behind his back for school's sake- she was rather enraged. She knew he was intelligent, but the only thing he didn't surpass her on was sports, which if he did would grant him a one way ticket to the "Land of Truth".

He annoyed her at first in that point of their lives. Like, a lot. Like, get-him-out-of-her-sight lot.

Thought knowing he was different and only trying his best in life, she was mad. He wasn't better than her. He couldn't be, after all, he was called the useless runt of the mayor. And deep down, apart from her competitiveness she guessed she was assuming he was just as boastful as the other boys. And that he would just seduce her like Snotlout did, because of her looks.

Then she got to know him better when they accidentally met in the woods. He had been taking care of a black dog that'd lost his tail in an accident. Apparently, it'd been Hiccup himself passing his bike over the poor animal's tail, breaking it, and guilt ridden or not, he couldn't let it to suffer. With all the money he'd saved, he took it to a vet where they cut the dog's tail and then hid it in the forest, since Stoick would go berserk if he found a dog being hidden in his house.

He didn't like animals that much.

According to Hiccup, Stoick didn't even know what he liked, too blind by his work to try and bound with one. (To try and bond with his son too).

She was proven wrong then, he wasn't the Horrendous guy she recently had assumed him to be, and for the first time, she didn't feel like punching whoever proved her so. Instead, she grew close to him, to the point of daring calling herself his friend.

She found things she didn't know. She found him a curious mind, passionate, sweet and surprisingly yet amazingly respectful. He didn't try to have his way with her, though she was kind of aware of his crush on her. He simply shared his world with her, showing her more than she ever thought about. He widened her horizons, and showed her new skies… without asking for a thing in return. She found him extremely funny, hilarious even and a trustworthy company to be with when her own life wasn't easy.

She warmed up to him and let her old curious self surface. She didn't need to be though around him, she could be herself and not be judged, not fear someone would take her place in all the high standards she'd worked and built herself into, there was no pressure on her shoulders with him. She found freedom, and a true friend.

Scarily, she found someone she truly cared about in a different way, other than her family and even other friends of course.

At first she didn't understand what that feeling she got every time they hanged out was, when they talked, played with Toothless, that anger she got when even at their 15 years, his 15 years, someone kept bullying him was. He was outstanding, didn't they see it? Why hadn't she given him a try sooner?

Then, she started realizing what that feeling was, and it made her cheeks burn just at the thought.

Astrid Hofferson didn't need anyone! Especially a boy.

She dind't depend on anyone, and just like that, she certainly wasn't in love with him either…

Then, something horrible happened. Something big for such a small, seemingly forgotten town. Very big.

See it was like the world, the country, forgot about the island, and even being small like she's been saying, it was big enough to cause damage and shock.

She remembered it clearly; they had been taking a walk with Toothless when they overheard a talk. A terrorist gang had decided that that was the perfect place to store their bombs and arsenal, since… who would remember Berk could be a perfect hideout to prepare an attack. She thought it was better to inform the police but Hiccup heard them leaving for that attack, and if nothing was done it'd be too late. No police could cross the tree-filled forest in time to get there when they were starting to leave. People would die because of that.

"So what are you going to do about it?" She'd asked sarcastically, crossing her arms.

"Something stupid." He replied, glancing at her by the corner of his eye.

"Yeah but you've already done that." She deadpanned.

He wouldn't really go forward with all this right? No one on their right mind would even step close to the place.

"Then maybe something crazy."

She remembered face palming as he and Toothless ran towards the warehouse in the forest, sneaking in. For someone so sarcastic, understanding his own language didn't seem to be one of his strong abilities.

Another thing she found was that he was selfless, and definitely crazy.

She was about to join them, after all, they couldn't have all the action right? He would get himself killed if she didn't do something.

The warehouse went KABOOM and with it, the entire Red Death crew and their plans. All by a 15-year-old, clumsy kid.

After bursting to flames, it collapsed on itself as if the giant explosion wasn't enough.

She remembered freezing after being thrown backwards by the shock wave, and the heat. The worst part though, they didn't come back. Hiccup didn't come back.

She froze for so long, that the police and even citizens had time to arrive.

She thought he was dead.

Gobber the Belch, more like the mechanic or Hiccup's mentor as well saw her and with him came Stoick. But she couldn't speak. Only fight sobs.

Gods Stoick…

How would she tell him that his crazy son thought he could just go inside a dangerous gang's laree and stop them and ended up by blowing himself up?

Between breaths, she'd found her voice and as soon as words dripped from her mouth, the man turned pale, bolting towards the scene. Not even the police could get a hold on him, even if he was the mayor it could blow up again, and they didn't want to let him in.

Long version short. Toothless managed to get his boy out of there in time but Hiccup lost a leg in the process. During the week he was out, Astrid made sure she went to the hospital waiting for him to wake up to scold him of course every single day. She didn't want him to be alone anymore. She didn't want to feel like before anymore.

Scolding didn't go that well, because instead she ended up kissing him.

Everyone regretted the way they treated him from then on, even Stoick- and the relationship between the two improved miles. No more bullying, teasing, but respect and regret for assuming what they had assumed.

Being different wasn't so bad after all.

Where was she?

Oh right…

The museum…

Art.

From then on, the gang (how they liked to call their group) became closer. She became best friends with him and this time yes, everyone grew up with everyone.

It was more than he could've asked for, she knew.

Eventually, their feelings for each other became stronger than them and there was no hiding it anymore. They didn't like, they loved each other. She could see it in his eyes every time he laid eyes on her and she couldn't help but feel breathless and disconnected from the world every time she thought of him.

No.

She was looking at art.

Focus Astrid. There's plenty of time to think about all that later.

She had no idea where they were by now. She just hoped it was some floors above the entrance.

Astrid couldn't help but blush. She'd been hugging his arm the entire time, their fingers intertwined and her eyes glued to him. But she couldn't help it. Hiccup always accompanied her to these things, when there was some sports exposition or even to the small stadium when there was a game. She knew it bored him just as much as art bored her, but he still went.

And this time, it was the other way around. Art expositions were rare in Berk, though the town was becoming more and more modern at each passing day. However, she knew it was his chance to finally see some of those paintings he'd always talked about live. She'd even slept at the Haddocks because it was closer to the museum, and as soon as the sun shone Hiccup was already shaking her, motioning for her to get up so they wouldn't catch many people in line. She almost hit him with a pillow, wanting to sleep more; this is if his emerald green eyes hadn't been shinning like two precious stones and he wasn't pouting with those love-me-tender eyes only a puppy or he could pull.

Shining just like they were now, and it melted her heart the good way.

She nestled in her cheek on his shoulder, getting comfortable, her gaze never leaving his face, just analyzing and remembering.

She remembered being taller than him and then he'd had such a growth spurt that everyone in the gang was left behind in high. They too grew up, being in their 18 and 19's tends to do that to people, but still, he was a head taller than she was.

Still scrawny but with way more muscle than before she had to admit. He was a lot stronger now, perhaps from all the work he'd done with Gobber at the man's garage. His face had become more long and his jaw sharper. Her favourite part was the hair and eyes. His auburn hair was the softest thing she knew, with its floppy bangs in every direction possible. She loved how messy it was, and it was hard to not touch it every time he walked and it bounced about. It had grown longer, so she could do the two little braids under his ear he hated but never took out.

Which warmed her heart deeply.

His eyes were the same as always, but she never grew tired of them. They were pure emeralds, and she loved the way they seemed to change shade according to his emotions. The most vibrant green when he was happy and excited, a dark, lifeless-like one when he was suffering, a more dull one when something was boring, curiously an electric-like one when he was mad, which was a sight (he rarely got mad to that point). Electric as in, soul piercing-like. She didn't know if she should hate or love the way his eyes seemed to pierce through her, through her own barriers and always know how she felt. The same happened with his own emotions, which he was rather good at hiding. However, his eyes always betrayed him in the way that she looked at them and instantly knew what he was feeling; they were the most expressive windows. One look at them, and her mood would change to match his.

She hated how terrifying that was, but also loved it.

She saw his mouth stop moving. Oh, he was probably talking to her the whole time and she didn't even notice!

His eyebrows scrunched up in annoyance and for the first time in hours his eyes left the walls for him to turn around and look her in the eyes. "Will you stop staring at me and enjoy the artwork?" She loved his voice too, it was weird and nasal but she just loved it.

" _I am_ " She smirked, her eyes still admiring him.

Hiccup's eyebrows abandoned his eyes to change from furrowing to staying almost sky-high. He tried saying something back, but stutters and unfinished pieces of sounds were all that came out, so he stood agape from then on, facing the ground and the walls, too frozen in a blushing mess to say something back or even react when she pecked him in the lips.

She loved the way he blushed furiously around her too, his whole face becoming redder than the red painting ironically standing next to him.

The rest of the time Astrid spent staring at him and his furious blush and she was sure he wasn't able to admire the rest of the artwork properly after that. So much for his exposition.

Astrid giggled.

But hey, who knew, she might even like some art after all.

 **Thaaaat was it. Nothing story-like but it felt good to change a bit and y' know? Not really use ma brains for a story for once. 'M still sleepy. Weeeellll, that's all now, I'll be back today though 8yeah, neither I believe it but it's true). Yay! Baiii! XD**


End file.
